Archive for ‘Friendship’

After a very nice holiday trip to Skopje, Macedonia, I came home to my diary and started planning my 2018. A dear friend of mine sent me the “Every Day Matters”illustrated holistic diary created by Dani DiPirro of Positively Present for Christmas.

I suspect my friend thought of this, because on the one hand I’ve been quite depressed for the better half of 2017 after our dear sweet kitten died and pretty much felt like none of my days mattered. (I feel so blessed to have someone like her in my life. Thank you, Trisha!)
On the other hand, she also knows I’ve followed Dani’s 30 day photo challenges yearly since 2011. (Those photo challenges even prompted me to start a photo challenge of my own.)

As it says in the description if it, “the planner not only has plenty of space for daily planning, but also offers inspiring advice on how to make each and every day really matter.” I am looking forward to it being a resource for enriching my daily life, guiding me through a journey of awareness and fulfillment as I’ll go about my everyday activities. Who knows? This might just be the diary/planner I fully fill out.
I’ve only been that disciplined with one other planner thus far in the 30 years of my existence.

For today, I thought to share a list with you. The theme for January is Openness, and the prompt for the first week of the month is a suggestion to write a list of five feel-good surprises from last year. I feel that so much of last year has been spent in grief I definitely didn’t pay much attention to letting happiness find me. It was actually hard to think of five things. I like that this comes first in the planner.

Five feel-good surprises from 2017:

A phone call my boyfriend received to pick up his diploma, which led to us taking a trip to pick it up around my birthday.

Google Maps taking us the wrong way during a road trip, but leading to the most scenic ride through the forest.

Receiving a bike for my birthday – I’ve wanted to buy myself one for the past five years at least, but never got around to it.

Out of a five-people team, being the only one asked to hand over her project work in person at the client’s site in the UK.

Receiving the out-of-the-blue gift that included my Christmas present, this diary.

Now I’m wondering, what was your 2017 like overall? And what are your five feel-good surprises from last year? Do share in the comment section below!

I am at a point in my life where my bullshit-radar is on “high”, and I get frustrated with people who speak before they think things through. Here’s a few examples:

Pets are family to me, and if anything happens to them I will be sad. For weeks on end. And you saying “Stop being sad, it was just an animal.” will bring resentment from my part, even though I can understand that not everyone thinks and feels the same way I do.

Replying with “Oh, but who’s going to feed the cat?” when asked about going on a trip together with the person who usually feeds your cat is probably going to result in me looking at you like you’ve gone insane. I will also need to find someone else other than them to feed my cat, so if this is your first thought out loud, I am already regretting asking and will look less forward to the trip.

Having lunch with colleagues can be fun. The moment one of them makes a snotty remark about the cheap food I happen to eat five days in a row because I am on a tight budget and have no time to cook myself a yummy-er lunch, I will stop having lunch with them. Simple.

Same goes for colleagues who only talk about their team issues and project during lunchtime. I have nothing to add to those conversations, so if I want to sit and eat without talking to someone because they’re immersed in team-talk, I can do that on the balcony by myself and enjoy the fresh air at least.

Telling me, an unmarried and supposedly friend of yours, that “I don’t know who to ask as bridesmaids, all my friends are married” will hurt my feelings. Very much so. Especially if my boyfriend is a best man in said wedding and aside from feeling left out it also keeps us apart for half a day.

All of these result in getting my feelings hurt, actually, and as only one of the above happened this year, it seems that they hurt me enough to still think about it. Over-thinker with a mild case of OCD at her best… Here’s hoping this little rant-y post helped clear my head of these.

I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of such comments and questions in your lifetime. What was your worst one?

Like this:

The card below I received from the wonderful people I worked for/with, from the UK.

I visited their offices for handover of my work, and aside from the fact that out of a five people team I was the only one invited to do my handover sessions on site, I was floored that everyone there was genuinely interested how I was doing and if I have found another project starting July. I did, just for the record, a pretty interesting one, yet the gestures still made me all teary.

Thank you for the best two and a half work years of my life (so far)! I will truly miss working for you!

Bet you know someone else who'd like to read this

Like this:

Lately, I find that I have less patience for things, situations and people. And I don’t like it, but can’t help it either. And I start feeling semi-depressed and just want to sit in bed and do only the bare minimum, to survive. It’s hard to stop crying. It’s hard to force oneself to get out and go for a run, or walk and not become a hermit. It’s hard to keep from falling apart.

On some days I think too much.
About how people now living abroad come home to visit and don’t have time to get together. How they’d expect a meet-up on a two hour notice. How something always comes up. It takes two months to schedule a meeting with someone. And it takes 18+ back and forth texts to finally meet up on a day and at a time which don’t really suit one of the parties involved, but they can’t bear the thought of putting it off again so they change their whole schedule around. People don’t call/or get back to someone when they say they will. They only reach out if they want something. And even when they want a favor, they make one jump through hoops to be able to help them, making one go out of their way for them. Everyone is way too busy at work, there is not enough time to discuss something as small as how they are doing instead of discussing only work – even during lunch breaks or after hours.
People just don’t have time for each other anymore. Every single plan made gets changed. I feel like I did when I was a little kid and was the last to get picked for things, which is more like stuck with than picked.
Somehow, everything else comes first…

Then on one of the above described days OKAY, by ThePianoGuys, popped into my YouTube feed. And let me tell you, it truly was exactly what I needed to hear that day. I immediately shared it on my social media. And wished the whole World would listen to it and share it, and especially, to think about it. “No matter what you’ve been through, here you are; no matter if you think you’re falling apart, it’s gonna be okay.”
Go ahead have a listen, and make sure to read the story behind the song, in the video’s description box. It’s so worth it!

As closing, I will leave you with the words of ThePianoGuys who summed it up nicely:As Oscar Hammerstein once said, “It is a modern tragedy that despair has so many spokesmen, and hope so few.” Please share this song with someone you think might need it today. Thank you!

Cookies or Cake? – I’d say that depends. Does it have chocolate in it?

Chocolate or Vanilla? – Chocolate. Except if we’re talking about ice cream flavors, in which case I combine chocolate with a scoop of melon.

Favorite Sweet Treat? – Stroopwafels. Because I love tea, and they go together perfectly.

When do you crave sweet things the most? – When I’m tired. Sometimes I am too tired to go fetch them from the kitchen, but I still crave them. Just the other night I was craving chocolate and was lucky I had leftover Easter Bunnies ;)

I’d also like to thank Franny for the Because You’re Fantabulous Award and the Awesome Blossom award. These two are no-strings-attached blog awards, so if you would like them, please take and post them to your blog/bestow as you see fit.

Like this:

Work is pretty demanding of my time, attention and… well, life, lately, but I finally made enough time (instead of going to bed early), to properly thank and acknowledge the following blog awards which floated my way through the blogosphere.

Thanks a million to everyone!

Given how wonderful the lovely people who awarded me are, it makes me feel especially honored that they felt I deserved the:

1 and 8 are numbers which repeat themselves so much in my life. Won’t even go into it ;)

This particular green I saw in the shop was never a shade I would’ve consciously chosen for drapes, but seeing it in my room, I just love it! Even upholstered my computer chair and had a decorative pillow made from the remaining fabric.

I simply don’t have the energy to reply to Franny’s questions, nor to form new ones myself…

As that last one states, I’d like to ask those I nominate, to please go read and reply to Franny’s questions if you want to; or see the questions she or Cathy had to answer. If not, I’ll happily read the 11 random facts about yourself even without extra questions! :)

Like this:

Funny, it seems like Fall is always coming around with my acknowledgment of awards. And it’s a first here on Life’s a Stage that I don’t leave them hanging for months at a time before I do, right? ;)

During my hiatus, Terri, of Workin’ With What I’ve Got awarded me with The Liebster Blog Award. I approved her nomination comment as soon as I got around an internet connection and would now like to properly thank her.

Thank you so much, Terri, it fills my heart with such joy that you thought of my little corner of the web!

The rules of acceptance related to this award are:

The Liebster Blog Award is an award for blogs with under 200 followers. Apparently Liebster is German for “beloved” and a blog nominated for this award is “worth watching”.

If you are nominated for the award and accept it, then you have won!

Link back to the person who presented the award to you.

Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers who you feel deserve the award.

Let the nominees know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Attach the Liebster award badge to your site.

The second award comes from Lynn, of Present Letters. We met back when she was doing the A Month of Letters challenge, where she’d hand write a letter a day for a month. Lynn offered to write anyone a letter if they sent her their info. As I was looking to adopt a love letter bundle at the time, I contacted her and asked if she’d write a letter, not for me, but for someone else. Lynn has been so wonderful, she accepted and has been writing a love letter a month ever since!

Thank you for being such an amazing person, Lynn, and also for awarding me!

The rules of acceptance related to this award are:

Acknowledge the giver of the award and provide a link to his or her blog.

Copy and paste the award to your blog.

Pass the award on to up to ten bloggers.

Notify the selected bloggers of their nominations.

I will compromise with the rules (of how many people to award) for a second here and send both these awards on to five blogs I absolutely love and think are worth watching:

Kid Stuph, by Kenneth Hopkins – wisdom from the mind of a grown up kid on various life subjects like travel, writing, nature, photography, etc. Kenneth loves being an artist in an artistic household. There is always something being created, whether it be music, art, poetry, drawings or plays.

tabras’s space, by Trisha – a little look at life through a multifaceted lens of introspection, inspiration, and inquisition… a single perspective from a single person that tries to incorporate wider ideas of life, love, culture, perception, positivity, and self realization…

Challenging Barriers, by Mark Koning – The scariest thing about facing any barriers in life is keeping the fear bottled up inside. The best way to work through any obstacle in life is to talk about it and to know you are not alone. That is what his blog is all about, opening up, sharing and walking the path of accessibility.

Workin’ With What I’ve Got, by Terri – a series of freewrites, though, as the blog progresses, they’re no longer derived from stream-of-conscious writing. Terri has written for publication some twenty-plus years and her artwork has been exhibited for almost as long, currently offering classes and coaching.

Present Letters, by Lynn – writing in her favorite form of writing, epistolary, Lynn loves hand writing letters to people. She also love to cook, garden and do anything creative.

Hope you guys will accept the awards and if you have one of them already, just focus on the other ;)